Chris Flies The Champ

Phil mentioned that he'd found a Champ for rent for $80/hr and he was getting checked out in it. I knew Chris had a biennial coming up, so I recommended that he get his tailwheel endorsement.

He called the instructor, Les, and they decided to meet up last night and get started. I tagged along to get some photos. Les is a very nice guy and both Phil and Chris say he's a great instructor. You don't hear that every day!

Chris and Les taxiing over to the fuel pumps.


Chris adding some fuel.

Les hand-propping the plane - no starter!

Look at the serious look on Chris' face!

After many attempts, Les got the plane started and they were off.

Taking off.

Coming in for a landing.

Happy flying! Jack

Travis Gets His BFR

Travis was heading to Blum to get his BFR with Craig McPherson, so I tagged along. Craig had offered to let me fly his Airwolf and I wasn’t going to pass that up! Not to mention my PPC was still in his shop and I wanted to see how bad it looked. Turns out it wasn’t too bad, in fact I couldn’t feel any rough spots inside the cylinder, but the piston had a black spot on it. Hopefully it will be in the air again soon.

We arrived Friday afternoon so we would have time to check Travis’ EGTs and possibly replace the probes. He and Craig got them fixed without replacing them.

Even though we were hearing thunder in the distance and seeing dark clouds, Craig assured us that the storms had been building up in the afternoons and then dying off and it wouldn't rain. So, when the storms hit… it was poured!! It trapped us in his shop for a long time, then we finally made a dash for Travis' car and we were soaked! We headed off to the hotel for a few hours of sleep before 5:30AM rolled around, hoping the field wouldn't be flooded in the morning.

In the morning, it was calm and even with all of the rain, the field only had a few puddles. We were good to go! A few of Craig’s friends showed up, including Bobby’s (Bobcat) Dad (Stan) to fly their new red Airwolf, Andre in his John Deere Airwolf, & Roger in his Red Pegasus. Another guy, Paul, would show up later for a ride in the Tiger Pegasus I sold Bobby awhile back as he’s thinking of buying it.

Craig was a busy instructor. He flew four different PPCs!!

I hope you enjoy the photos. It was hard to narrow down 364 photos! I got it down less than 40 something! Oh, and by the way, Travis passed his BFR.

Craig’s Airwolf

Stan setting up.

Andre's John Deere Airwolf.

Sadie, with Travis in the background!

Almost ready.

The sunrise was spectacular!

Stan flying low, lining up for a touch-n-go.

Roger heading out.

Roger down low.

Andre practicing his landings.

Hay, it's Texas!

Craig instructing Stan before his engine-off landing.

This is what Stan looks like making an interesting takeoff!

This is what Craig looks like when Stan makes an interesting takeoff!!

Such a nice plane.

More instruction.

And some more instruction! See a theme here?

Andre off again.

Roger off again.

Roger waving as he flies by.

Bobby's Mom getting a ride with Craig. It sure is quiet with the engine off!

I think that's a smile!! She said she needs one of her own now! That could turn out to be an expensive flight!

I was waiting for some good shots of this parachute all day.

Stan heading out again.

Bright colors.

This was my old PPC. I sure like that chute!

Look right... no, your other right!

I'll be out at Craig's again next week to finish off some training, so expect more soon.

Jack

It's too quiet!!

I needed to get my license current, so last Friday I headed out to Blum, Texas to see Craig McPherson of Blue Skies http://www.blueskiesppc.com/

Craig helped me pitch my prop, which has been a challenge for me to get right, then we went back to his house to do some paperwork. After the winds calmed down, we headed out to his field to fly.

I setup to fly with Craig watching over me and then I was ready to go. Craig told me to kite my parachute, taxi past some water jugs he'd setup, takeoff, come around and do a fly-by at four feet, then land near the jugs and keep the parachute up while taxiing back to him. All of this went well except when I landed my parachute went off to one side and I decided not to taxi back to him, but to shut it down instead. He was okay with this.

Next I setup to take off again and Craig got into the plane. We took off into the calm afternoon skies and other than having some issues with me hearing him, everything was going well. He had me turn left and head for a field to practice some maneuvers. Shortly after I turned everything got quiet. Then, without warning, my engine quit!!

I've been in this situation before in an airplane, an ultralight, and as you'll remember from a couple of weeks ago, even in this PPC. So it was no big deal to find a nice open spot in the field and I landed without issue.

After landing, Craig pulled my parachute to one side and I started the engine and it ran perfectly. He wisely advised me to shut it down though and while I packed my parachute he went off to get his four-wheeler and then towed me back to his place.

It turns out that the rear cylinder wasn't getting oil. Most likely this was a failed banjo valve. It shouldn't take long to get this fixed and get back in the air, but once again this sport is costing more money that I envisioned when I started!

In the end, things could have been much worse. I landed safely and I can tell you I've found a good friend in Craig. If you need an instructor for PPCs, I highly recommend him. He was not only a great instructor, but went way out of his way to help me find out what happened to my engine and his efforts saved me a lot of money in labor charges.

Sorry no photos this time. I'm heading back out there this Friday and I promise to get some photos of Travis getting his biennial.

Jack